Paradise Fire Victims in Need
Donation protected
On Thursday, I missed three calls and two text messages from my mother in rapid succession.
I picked up my phone and read: “Please call me.”
I called, and heard the shaking voice of my mother: “Have you heard about the fire? Ross called from his truck. He evacuated the hospital and is trapped on a road that’s burning on both sides. It is 110 degrees INSIDE his truck.”
I yelled for more information about my brother, Ross, an OBGYN at Feather River Hospital in Paradise, California. I felt myself rapidly descending into my own panic.
“Is he out!? IS HE OKAY? IS HE ALIVE?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “The phone cut out. Sara and the kids are safe, on their way to Chico.”
Sara is my sister-in-law, and together they have three children: two boys and a girl, ages 12, 9, and 7.
Though relieved to hear about Sara and the kids, my brain flooded with images of my big brother suffocating, jumping out of his truck, burning up. I felt so powerless. I felt like an animal trapped in a tiny cage. I felt out of my mind.
That was 11am. From that moment until 5pm, we had no idea if he made it out or not, and all I could do was sit with my mother and husband, watch Twitter updates of the Camp Fire and pray to God my brother wasn’t in that.
And yet, he was in that. Right in the center of it.
After evacuating the hospital, Ross made a choice: North or South. With no direction other than what he knew of the fire’s current location, he chose north, heading down Pentz Road (there’s a viral video on Twitter of the situation on Pentz Road when my brother was on it- it was not helpful to see that).
Within moments, he was gridlocked, the fire jumping in the incredible winds, and he watched the bumper melt off the car in front of him. It was black as night in the middle of the day. He saw belongings in the bed of a woman’s truck spontaneously combust, and strangers trying to help her throw the flaming items away from her vehicle.
People were driving on hubcaps because their tires had melted, running out of cars that had caught fire. There were cars and propane tanks exploding, people carrying kids and pets needing rides, running to buildings for shelter only to have it catch fire, too.
Apocalyptic. Devastating.
The cover photo of this campaign is of a burning ambulance, taken by my brother from his truck. When the ambulance caught on fire, it was carrying a mother who had an emergency c-section while the hospital was evacuating. They made it, but can you imagine? Seriously. Can you?
For two and a half hours, my brother inched along in the middle of the road, with trees and buildings burning all around him, driving beneath fallen power lines. He made it one-half mile in those 2.5 hours. He was not alone. There were hundreds of people trapped while trying to evacuate. Eventually, he was directed to a Kmart parking lot and sheltered there with about one hundred people, while firemen sprayed east and west to keep the flames away from them.
At 5pm, we heard his voice, and on Friday, I held his face in my hands. I wish I could tell you what that felt like.
My brother and his wife and their three children lost everything, but this fundraiser is not for them. I told you this story because I want you to understand what people are living through right now. Of what the Camp Fire really was. Is. It's not over.
Ross is a doctor. They are insured. While we are all infinitely grateful to the many people who have offered to send monetary donations to my brother’s family, there are people more in need, and he and his wife would never take what should be elsewhere. However, we would love to give you a place to donate.
This fundraiser is for uninsured families and those in dire, immediate need.
This is a brother-sister combination fundraiser. A bro-sis team. My brother is a prominent OBGYN in Paradise, a small mountain town. He and his wife are members of the local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and my sister-in-law is deeply engaged in the community: homeschool, public school, baseball, swimming.
I am a blogger who writes an irreverent parenting blog. Sure, he saves lives and helps bring babies into the world and I like write stuff and swear too much, but we all have our roles, okay?
But my readers have wanted to help! (You really are the best.)
So, here’s what’s happening: I am using my platform to share this fundraiser. Ross and Sara have been contacted and encountering families with nothing at all and no savings. They will use their connections in the community, through church, work, and friends, etc., to get this money into the hands of people who need immediate help, beyond those they know right now.
Not organizations, people. People like us. Moms and dads and kids.
The point of this fundraiser is to get these families money FAST, and for us (and you) to know that the funds will be sent via Paypal or Venmo to real people in the Paradise community who need it.
Did you know that after one of these fires, you’re sent to an evacuation center and all you have is what you have? Think about this. If you didn’t grab coats, underwear, tampons, socks, jeans, comfortable shoes, pajamas – you have to buy more. Everything you didn’t grab, you have to acquire somehow.
If you need to travel to family, you need gas. You may need overnight accommodations. You may need to buy food in restaurants. These expenses aren’t a huge deal for people with savings, but this is an impoverished rural area and if you’re a family with very little to your name, and your place of employment literally burned to the ground, how the hell are you going to spend this kind of money on immediate needs?
This fundraiser is for them. So, please, give what you can to reach these families directly.
I am crying as I write this. Not just for my sweet nephews and niece and brother and sister-in-law, who have only a chimney left of their home, the home where we spent so many holidays and lazy afternoons, but because I never knew, never understood, never fully SAW the extent of the displacement, devastation, and terror these fires cause in the lives of people.
The entire community is decimated. The support systems we have in place: school, church, work, neighborhood – gone. The people themselves, scattered among shelters and centers and neighboring towns.
Thank you all for your generosity, support, and concern for my family, and while we don’t need it ourselves, and will not take a dollar of the money raised, it is our absolute honor to send your funds to those who need it more.
Thank you.
Update: This money will be held in a special bank account in my name and I will personally send all your donations directly via check or electronic bank wire to fire victims in Paradise. Members of this team (my brother and his wife) have direct contact with the recipients, knowing them personally (that's how they're getting their information - lol). Thank you all for this incredibly successful fundraiser! I will update with information on who you helped!

I picked up my phone and read: “Please call me.”
I called, and heard the shaking voice of my mother: “Have you heard about the fire? Ross called from his truck. He evacuated the hospital and is trapped on a road that’s burning on both sides. It is 110 degrees INSIDE his truck.”
I yelled for more information about my brother, Ross, an OBGYN at Feather River Hospital in Paradise, California. I felt myself rapidly descending into my own panic.
“Is he out!? IS HE OKAY? IS HE ALIVE?”
“I don’t know,” she said. “The phone cut out. Sara and the kids are safe, on their way to Chico.”
Sara is my sister-in-law, and together they have three children: two boys and a girl, ages 12, 9, and 7.
Though relieved to hear about Sara and the kids, my brain flooded with images of my big brother suffocating, jumping out of his truck, burning up. I felt so powerless. I felt like an animal trapped in a tiny cage. I felt out of my mind.
That was 11am. From that moment until 5pm, we had no idea if he made it out or not, and all I could do was sit with my mother and husband, watch Twitter updates of the Camp Fire and pray to God my brother wasn’t in that.
And yet, he was in that. Right in the center of it.
After evacuating the hospital, Ross made a choice: North or South. With no direction other than what he knew of the fire’s current location, he chose north, heading down Pentz Road (there’s a viral video on Twitter of the situation on Pentz Road when my brother was on it- it was not helpful to see that).
Within moments, he was gridlocked, the fire jumping in the incredible winds, and he watched the bumper melt off the car in front of him. It was black as night in the middle of the day. He saw belongings in the bed of a woman’s truck spontaneously combust, and strangers trying to help her throw the flaming items away from her vehicle.
People were driving on hubcaps because their tires had melted, running out of cars that had caught fire. There were cars and propane tanks exploding, people carrying kids and pets needing rides, running to buildings for shelter only to have it catch fire, too.
Apocalyptic. Devastating.
The cover photo of this campaign is of a burning ambulance, taken by my brother from his truck. When the ambulance caught on fire, it was carrying a mother who had an emergency c-section while the hospital was evacuating. They made it, but can you imagine? Seriously. Can you?
For two and a half hours, my brother inched along in the middle of the road, with trees and buildings burning all around him, driving beneath fallen power lines. He made it one-half mile in those 2.5 hours. He was not alone. There were hundreds of people trapped while trying to evacuate. Eventually, he was directed to a Kmart parking lot and sheltered there with about one hundred people, while firemen sprayed east and west to keep the flames away from them.
At 5pm, we heard his voice, and on Friday, I held his face in my hands. I wish I could tell you what that felt like.
My brother and his wife and their three children lost everything, but this fundraiser is not for them. I told you this story because I want you to understand what people are living through right now. Of what the Camp Fire really was. Is. It's not over.
Ross is a doctor. They are insured. While we are all infinitely grateful to the many people who have offered to send monetary donations to my brother’s family, there are people more in need, and he and his wife would never take what should be elsewhere. However, we would love to give you a place to donate.
This fundraiser is for uninsured families and those in dire, immediate need.
This is a brother-sister combination fundraiser. A bro-sis team. My brother is a prominent OBGYN in Paradise, a small mountain town. He and his wife are members of the local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and my sister-in-law is deeply engaged in the community: homeschool, public school, baseball, swimming.
I am a blogger who writes an irreverent parenting blog. Sure, he saves lives and helps bring babies into the world and I like write stuff and swear too much, but we all have our roles, okay?
But my readers have wanted to help! (You really are the best.)
So, here’s what’s happening: I am using my platform to share this fundraiser. Ross and Sara have been contacted and encountering families with nothing at all and no savings. They will use their connections in the community, through church, work, and friends, etc., to get this money into the hands of people who need immediate help, beyond those they know right now.
Not organizations, people. People like us. Moms and dads and kids.
The point of this fundraiser is to get these families money FAST, and for us (and you) to know that the funds will be sent via Paypal or Venmo to real people in the Paradise community who need it.
Did you know that after one of these fires, you’re sent to an evacuation center and all you have is what you have? Think about this. If you didn’t grab coats, underwear, tampons, socks, jeans, comfortable shoes, pajamas – you have to buy more. Everything you didn’t grab, you have to acquire somehow.
If you need to travel to family, you need gas. You may need overnight accommodations. You may need to buy food in restaurants. These expenses aren’t a huge deal for people with savings, but this is an impoverished rural area and if you’re a family with very little to your name, and your place of employment literally burned to the ground, how the hell are you going to spend this kind of money on immediate needs?
This fundraiser is for them. So, please, give what you can to reach these families directly.
I am crying as I write this. Not just for my sweet nephews and niece and brother and sister-in-law, who have only a chimney left of their home, the home where we spent so many holidays and lazy afternoons, but because I never knew, never understood, never fully SAW the extent of the displacement, devastation, and terror these fires cause in the lives of people.
The entire community is decimated. The support systems we have in place: school, church, work, neighborhood – gone. The people themselves, scattered among shelters and centers and neighboring towns.
Thank you all for your generosity, support, and concern for my family, and while we don’t need it ourselves, and will not take a dollar of the money raised, it is our absolute honor to send your funds to those who need it more.
Thank you.
Update: This money will be held in a special bank account in my name and I will personally send all your donations directly via check or electronic bank wire to fire victims in Paradise. Members of this team (my brother and his wife) have direct contact with the recipients, knowing them personally (that's how they're getting their information - lol). Thank you all for this incredibly successful fundraiser! I will update with information on who you helped!
Organizer
Janelle Hanchett
Organizer
Paradise, CA
